Viscoelastic crack propagation and closing with Lennard-Jones surface forces

An analysis of the opening and closing of a crack in a viscoelastic solid has been made assuming a Lennard-Jones law of force acting between the crack faces. The results are compared with those of an earlier analysis in which a simple Dugdale model of the surface forces was assumed. The approximate 'reciprocal rule' between the apparent surface energies for opening and closing cracks is confirmed. At low speeds a linear relation between the apparent surface energy and the crack speed is found. The lengths of the process zone for opening and closing cracks are found to be very similar and so presumably are not responsible for the very different values of the apparent surface energy.